mcleod

INTERIOR DE PENUMBRAS

The house itself was a large, square, solidlooking building, with a flat roof. It was
surrounded by a wall, some ten or twelve feet in height, which enclosed a space
covering about an acre of ground, and within which there was a kitchen, outhouses for
the slaves, and a stable having accommodation for three horses.
The chambers on the basement were large and lofty, but were only used as store-
rooms.
On the floor above there was one large sitting or reception-room, and three other
apartments; access to which was obtained from the front of the house by a door on the
basement, leading to a massive stone staircase; and on the rear of the house, by a double
stone staircase leading from the court-yard.
The spaces for windows of the rooms on the basement were barred by iron wood; the
door of the house was double and folding, and all the fastenings were heavy, awkward,
and cumbersone, evidently made with a view to resist any attacks of the natives. The
windows of the upper apartments were one half glass, and the other half a wooden
shutter on hinges, which opened to admit air; while the glass part was fitted with a
similar shutter to exclude, when necessary, the intense light of that latitude.
The reception-room was furnished with two light Indian sofas, which looked cool
and inviting; a dozen and a half chairs, of all descriptions, collected from every quarter
of the globe, each design showing that comfort was the object sought; three tables
placed conveniently in the apartment; a few good French coloured prints on the wall; a
number of books in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, on a variety of
subjects Ч history, architecture, agriculture, mining, poetry, and belles--lettres Ч
scattered about the room, showed the attainments of the owner. In one corner stood two
barometers, one French and the other English, while close adjoining, on the wall, hung
an aneroid. In another part of the room was seen one of Dent's dupli-descopes for
finding noon by the double reflection of the meridian sun in any latitude; by its side a
German microscope, and a French alarm clok. Exploring the next apartment, one came
across a magic lantern, Chinese puzzles carved in ivory, and a complete apparatus for
the Daguerreotype process. These all attested to the various tastes of the owner, and it
was his favourite boast that the house contained everything; in proof of which, on
visiting the store-room below, he showed me a rusty rat-trap, an American cotton-gin,
palms and needles, copal varnish, rockets; and, in short, anything that I named was, as if
by enchantment, immediately produced.
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VOZES APRISIONADAS

When we took the house, the slaves, with the exception of one who was a carpenter,
and appeared to be a favourite with Portuguese Rosa, were, without exception, the most
miserable, brokenhearted looking negroes I ever saw. They had the appearance of
having been half-starved for a very long period, and were covered with scars and sores,
evidently the effects of brutal treatment. One poor creature was so horrifying a sight,
that I asked Mr. Scares' if it was not possible to do something to alleviate his sufferings,
when he was sent to the house of Mr. Scares father to be treated by the slave doctor
there. He begged me not to think his slaves were in that condition always; and ac-
counted for it by his absence from Mozambique, stating that, when he returned after an
absence of any duration, he was sure to find that some of his slaves were dead, and
many of them had run away into the Makua country; which he felt certain was caused
by the cruel treatment of those whom he had left in charge of them. He added that he
rejoiced they were with me, for now there would be an end of this, as far as those who
were attached to this house of his. I observed, on his making his appearance among
them, that they clapped their hands, as if glad at his presence; but I found no expression
of this feeling in their countenances; and I soon learned that they made this clapping of
their hands on seeing me, or my wife, or, in fact, any one with a white face Ч and that it
was not only their glorious privilege to be slaves, but that they had to express their joy
in this manner on beholding their oppressors. How ab-ject must be that domestic slavery
which degrades the image of God to such base-ness!
However, we set about improving their condition* gradually. Owing to the pòor
food, and scanty allowance of it, which was served out to them, their blood was very
much impoverished, and their bodies were covered with disgusting running sores; the
fingers and toes of some of the younger slaves being almost rotted offЧ and in this
conditions their oppressors expected them to perform their daily task. The appearance of
some was really too horrible to be described. I ordered sulphur and lard to be applied,
and had to superintend the treatment myself, as the elder ones could not be persuaded at
first to assist their younger fellow-sufferers. They were induced to bathe in the salt
water morning and evenimg. At first there was some difficulty about the matter, but by
dint of a little coaxing the elder ones took to it, and then there was no difficulty with the
younger ones. The allowance of food was really not sufficient to sustain life, consisting
entirely of a description of small grain called milho. This allowance was served out
about once a week; a day more or less seemed to be a matter of indifference. The food
served out in this manner to the poor hungry negroes was of course seized upon with
avidity and what was intended for a week's supply seldom lasted for more than two or
theree days, and on the fourth day all were crying for food. Until the end of the week
they had no chance of receiving any from their own masters; they must, therefore, rob
them, or some other person; when found out, they were flogged. Hunger was ever
goading them on to rob; the lash was always ready, and therefore the whip was always
going.
If found stealing cocoa-nuts from the trees, the custom of Mozambique is to allow
the captain or guardian of the palm trees to shoot them. No question is asked as to how a
slave comes by his death Ч and the body is thrown into the sea.
The reason for giving them so little food is not that their masters are unable to feed
them, but simply that they come of a fierce race, and it is necessary to keep them in
subjection. The Portuguese are always dreading their slaves rising upon them; and,
therefore, they exercise all their ingenuity in devising means to keep them down, and
display a refinement in cruelty which I am not aware exists in any other slave-holding
communities. Here at Mozambique, where slaves are plentiful, and where there is no
difficulty in replacing them, they are not valued as in those places where a human being
represents so many thousand dollars, or hundred doubloons. Here a slave is only worth
forty dollars, even when the slave ships from Reunion or Cuba lie in the harbour. If a
slave is refractory, and flogging only makes him worse, the arbitrary master, enraged at
his continued disobedience, bids his brutal overseer flog him until лhe will require no
more.╗ The master looks on and gloats his vengeance. The slave perishes under the lash
Ч a few dollars will replace him. Not so where he cannot be replaced except at
considerable expense. This is one thing which peculiarly aggravates the domestic
slavery of Mozambique, viz., the facility with which the negro is replaced. To keep
them in subjection, every opportunity is seized to destroy all sympathy with each other,
and all natural affection. The son is made to flog his mother and his sister; the father
flogs his daughters, and also the woman who bore them for him Ч all at the command
of their owner, who can do with them what he pleases.

Lyons McLeod

In: Travels in Eastern Africa...